Venus & Serena: The ‘Demonstration Effect’

Venus and Serena Williams are not only two of the greatest champions in the game of tennis. The sisters are also champions for racial and gender equality, and have inspired thousands of girls to follow their lead.

The sisters were famously coached by their father, Richard Williams who mapped out a plan of close to 100 pages for their careers before they were born. He was so driven that he moved the family from a nice home, just a block from the ocean in Long Beach, California to Compton, believing it would give his daughters “a fighter’s mentality”. 

Venus and Serena spent their early years practising on Compton Boulevard courts, at a time when the city grappled with widespread homelessness, drugs, crime and gangs.

"How much easier would it be to play in front of thousands of white people if they had already learned to play in front of scores of gang members?" wrote Richard in his 2014 book Black And White: The Way I See It.

Serena recalls hearing gunfire as they played and said the courts were in sorry shape.

Gang members even beat Richard and left him seriously injured – but eventually they became proud and protective of the Williams sisters. 

“They would surround the court, they wanted the girls to do well,” former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore said. "This is the most amazing story that needs to be told to every child in America, especially those who came out of nowhere," said Moore.

The sisters have transcended tennis. They left behind the run-down Compton courts to dominate the game for decades and fight race-based preconceptions in the predominantly white world of tennis. They have been prominent campaigners for gender equality, and for the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It’s amazing to see so many girls that look like me playing in the tournament and the main draw,” Hailey Baptiste, then 18 years old, remarked at the 2020 US Open – highlighting Venus and Serena’s legacy.

“It all starts with Venus and Serena,” Martin Blackman, the general manager of player development at the US Tennis Association told the New York Times. “That demonstration effect. The power of seeing two African-American girls with braids in the finals of the biggest tournaments in the world in a predominantly white sport. Just a huge impact that really can’t be overstated. That attracted thousands of girls into the sport, not just African-American but all backgrounds and races.”